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RL -
thanks for your comment
- it is a typical ceph, as far as i know...it is what i received it as, though if it continues to darken, i may look into something....
-as far as temperatures go, they have dropped slightly, but not very much as this plant is situated in my lowland terrarium...
It was producing pitchers that were green with red markings before i raised the plant up about 3 1/2 - 4" closer to the lights ontop of an empty pot...
Once i did that, suddenly the old pitchers gained a small amount of color, but the new ones, are this solid burgundy with green banding between the teeth...the midrib stays green but gains hints of red as the pitcher ages...

Interesting. There is a well-documented phenomenon that many plant's colors darken as temps drop. Cephs definitely have this propensity to darken as it cools but as many have pondered, there appear to also be other factors which we're unable to regularly duplicate. People on the VCPS listserver recently had a discussion on this topic and could come to no solid conclusions.

I have a 'Czech Giant' I received a year or two ago as a tiny plant. It has been putting out adult pitchers for at least the past 6 months. While the plant does not grow as fast or as large as my HG Cephs, each pitcher it produced this year has been almost black, while HG Cephs & HG Ceph progeny in the same tank have nowhere near the dark colors.

RL, interesting you say that your hummers arent coloring up, as mine arent really either...other than one massive pitcher that is deep burgundy that came on it, the new pitchers it has made for me are all green with some red...
im debating on figuring out a way to do the same thing i did with my typical, and try to raise it up another 3 1/2 or so inches closer to the lights....since that really seemed to work for the typical.
its also doubled in its diameter and growth points since i repotted it....

Here are 4 Ceph's all grown in the same temps under the same lights, the 3 in pots are the same distance from the lights. The one not in a green pot is 6" closer to the lights and is all GREEN!!! To further mess things up it is a division from the 'Typical' in one of those green pots. The all green is growing really really fast and is in room humidity. The medium mixes are very close to the same. However the one on the wall is grown alot drier than the other three.

Sorry for the bad pics, but they get the color across.

Ron, I'd love to see a pic of you Czech, mine are not coloring up anywhere near black, but the growing area temps have not dropped yet.

First, a 'Hummer's Giant'

Next a 'Czech Giant' baby

Here is the colorful typical division plant that is 6" further from the lights. Ignore the decaying pitcher in there .

And last the confusing part...The same clone as the pic above and its closer to the lights. With the same temps.

RSS- what king of lighting are you using? And how far from the lights are the plants? My typical that is photographed here, is about 4" from 6x 20watt 24" T-12 bulbs... Almost dead in the center of all of the light....

RSS- what king of lighting are you using? And how far from the lights are the plants? My typical that is photographed here, is about 4" from 6x 20watt 24" T-12 bulbs... Almost dead in the center of all of the light....

The lighting is from 2 T5 55W bulbs with reflectors, the 3 potted are 14" below the lights and 8-10" from the center of the light. The one on the wall is 5" below the lights and 12" from the center. The fixtures take up 5.5" X 48", lighting a 12" X 48" area. The 'Hummer's', potted typical, and walled typical are directly under 1 of the bulbs, the Czech is between the two bulbs. Also the 3 potted ones have a glass top with dust/buildup on it that the light is passing through, the walled on has nothing to deflect/block the lights. To make things even worse the walled one gets about 15m of natural sunlight every day, the other 3 get none due to furniture.

The one growing on the wall is getting a ton more light than the other 3.

I've experienced this in a few growing areas and I can not find a reason for it. Lighting atleast for me is not the only reason for Ceph. color, but I think it is a major factor. I've been wanting to try different Kelvin levels and see what that does. I know during the year the Kelvin levels change, if I recall correctly winter is more red and summer is more blue. Although I may have those mixed up.

Anyway I'm at a loss to explain what I'm seeing. All these plants have been in place for many months and have new growths.